I "finished" this map some time ago, after two WIP threads and lots of advice from lots of helpful people. It was created as a campaign map for my friend Greg. I turned it over to him and he sat on it for a month, then got it back to me last week. Sadly, I cannot walk away from a map for a month or so and not feel compelled to fix half of it.

The first WIP thread didn't really go anywhere, but not for lack of effort. I was stuck in an experimental phase of my self-education and tried a lot of things that didn't please me. Essentially, I wanted to find a good symbolic style after having done quite a few satellite maps and wasn't hitting the note for one reason or the other.

This time, I was looking for results, not technique, and the progress was much more satisfactory. I still got wrapped around the axle on mountains, which have always been my bete noir (along with a lot of other folks, I know), but I eventually came upon a bevel technique that allowed me to hand-craft the mountains and still keep them fairly realistic. It was important that I be able to create them where I wanted them and in the orientation I wanted them because I was trying to match the original for placement and purpose. "The Spine" on the western edge is supposed to be functionally impassable, and I think I managed to accomplish that believably.

So after a month of waiting for mark-ups from Greg, I got the map back and quickly decided that I needed to redo the cities, which were inspired by Ascension's Jasmine Coast map. They still are, but are less like them now. I also completely redid the lables which I was unhappy with in retrospect. I added some toys and reinvented the forests which were originally understated to the point of looking like a stain.

The map has become slow to work with because of the sheer number of layers, so it is good that it feels done. I hope you enjoy it.

17364

Gandwarf

10-03-2009, 05:46 PM

I certainly enjoy it! You made some nice improvements on the last version I saw. The gold title looks great!

töff

10-03-2009, 05:48 PM

fwiw, the Estuary Police give the discerning nod of approval!

Ascension

10-03-2009, 07:28 PM

Love your city walls :) Nice job, man. Wanted to rep ya but I can't so I owe ya one.

Steel General

10-04-2009, 09:12 AM

Very nice, only what is the cyan colored 'stuff' in the upper-left?

torstan

10-04-2009, 09:28 AM

Very nice. I like the different images along the bottom too. Good work.

Immolate

10-04-2009, 10:22 AM

SG: Silk, fresh out of the worm. Slightly processed.

Karro

10-05-2009, 11:24 AM

There is a very nice style to this. Excellent map, man.

I, too, however, get a Fail on the "Spread-the-rep-around" game, though you deserve some here.

Tom_Cardin

10-05-2009, 03:31 PM

Very nice. The details are subtle and very rich. I'm reppin' that.

Immolate

10-05-2009, 05:01 PM

Thanks a lot everyone for the encouragement!

DungeonMasterGaz

10-07-2009, 08:39 PM

Great map, Immolate. I love the detail on the towns and cities, and I think the way you've done the mountains is especially effective. Somehow, I don't know how to describe it, but the rivers invoked a great sense of scale for me too.

Imaginative campaign map. 500 XP and a Bag of Everlasting Provisions.

DMG

Immolate

10-08-2009, 08:15 AM

Lol, I long for 500xp now. We're playing Heroes now and we earned 4xp each last night, and counted it a good night...

Lwaxana

02-25-2010, 01:58 PM

Same question for this map. May we use it for a forum RPG?

Immolate

02-28-2010, 05:42 PM

I'm not precisely sure what a forum RPG is Lwaxana, but you're free to use this map for your own, non-commercial use. Just give me credit and send me a link wherever you use it (assuming online). That's not a requirement of the license so much as a courtesy to satisfy my curiosity.